Cleaning device for suction-sweepers



H. E. HOOVER.

CLEANING DEVICE FOR SUCTION SWEEPERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 23,19I9.

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driven brush for such machines.

UNITED sTArEs PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD EARL HOOVER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 HOOVER SUCTI SWEEPER COMPANY, OF NORTH CANTON, OHIO,

A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CLEANING DEVICE FOR SUCTION SWEEPERS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 31: 22 1921 Application filed May 23, 1919. Serial NO. 299,197.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, HOWARD EARL HOOVER, a citizen of the United States, residing at. Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois. have invented a. certain new and useful Improvement "in Cleaning Devices for Suction-Sweepers, of whichthe followin is a specification.

Ily invention relates to improvements in suction sweepers and has for one ob ect to provlde a new and Improved form of power object is to provide a brush which can be driven at relatively high speeds by a high speed motor 'without striking the carpet too often and too rapidly.

Another object is to provide a brush whose bristles shall extend less than all the way around the brush body and to properly balance or counterweight said brush.

It is understood that a carpet or fioor covering which has to be cleaned by a suction sweeper must have three separate and disvtinct things done to it. It must first be beaten to produce the same results as you -would get by beating a rug hanging on a .line using a hand carpet beater. It must also be swept by brush bristles which pass across the surface. and scrape up clinging lint and hairs and sweep up the dirt-released by the beating and it must also be subjected ing dust and dirt particles out from the nap of the carpet and by carryingofl' those other particles which are beaten out and which are swept loose.

A light high speed motor will drive the suction fan just as well as a heavier lower I tween strokes and therefore the carpet is not properly beaten. 7

One way to avoid the difficulty is toreduce the number of beating strokes applied to the carpet during any given interval, and this can be done by so arranging the-brush that it strikes the carpet only once during each revolution. 4

Another My invention therefore relates to a particular kind of brush for embodying this feature. 'and is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure 1 is an elevation of a brush with a partial single spiral row of bristles and;

Flg. 2 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of a brush with a I sindgle straight row of bristles therealong, an

Fig. 4 is an end View of the same.

Like parts are indicated by like characters in all the figures.

A is a brush barrel or body mounted for rotation on a shaft A supported in the suction housing. This barrel or body carries a pulley A driven by a belt A which in turn is driven by a motor in any suitable manner. A A are dust or thread guards attached to the ends of the shaft "A and adapted to overhang the ends of the brush I barrel or body to guard the bearings against dirt and dust and also to position the brush barrel 01' body in the suction nozzle.

B B are bristles arranged in a spiral about the axis, the spiral being incomplete, that is to say. occupying not quite the entire periphery of the brush. This is illustrated in Fig. 2. The pulley may be at the middle or at one end of the brush. to a blast of ai which cleans both by bring- C C are bristles arranged ina straight line substantially parallel to the axis and along the body of the brush from end to end. In this case also the pulley may be at any desired position.

1s a counterweight or projection or a weighted portion attached to and in this case extending along the body of the brush or cleaning device, It can be made of any desired material and mounted in any desired way and may be integral as indicated or may consist of a-series of parts. In the drawing where this part D is illustrated, in each of the figures it is illustrateddiagrammatically because no efl'ort is made to indicate its exact size and proportiohs or. the material of which it is made because all of these things would vary with the requirements of the case or the will of the desi ner.

Broadly speaking the object is, in a 0 caning device or brush which is unbalanced as is the brush here illustratedinmy invention, to associate therewith some kind of a counterbalance which will give regular and balanced action to the brush or motor which drives the brush or cleaning device. If the brush or cleaning device unbalanced as indicated in the drawings is driven by the motor in a suction cleaner, such motor. traveling at a high rate of speed, it is obvious that the load on the motor will be subject to rapid and severe fluctuation, and the balancing weight associated with the brush and body referred to is designed to reduce this irregular action or effect on the motor to a min mum.

, It will be evident that while I have shown in my drawings an operative device, still many changes might be made both in size. shape and arrangement of parts without departing materially from the spirit of my invention and I wish, therefore, that my drawings be regarded as in a sense diagranr matic. I

I have used the term brush meaning thereby to indicate any device which performs the brush or beating function, or both, and I have used the expression bristles to point to those particular sweeping or brushing devices which form the contacting part of such brush structure and I wish to have these terms where implied in the specification and claims understood in the broad sense indicated.

The brush device so called therefore is in effect a cleaning device and the bristles are cleaning members. Of course, the structure could be greatly differed from that here shown and yet perform some or all of the functions of the brush. So far as the relation of the cleaning device to the counterweight .is concerned, it is immaterial whether a device technically described as a brush be used.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows IVith a brush of the form shown, there will be a succession of beating blows with a short intermittent idle period. The brush of Figs. 1 and 2 will be substantially at all times in contact with the carpet, but there will be series of blows at points along the axis of the brush. In the brush of Figs. 3 and 4 during'the major part of each revolution the bristles will not be in contact with the object being. cleaned, In every case, however, but one set of bristles will strike the carpet at a given point during one revolution of the brush, in which case the brush will. be counterweighted.

. The sweeper when properly adjusted with respect to the floor so that the sucti n induced by the fan will draw the floor co\ ering off the fl0or,will bring it up against the suction nozzle. Air will be drawn through the carpet and across the carpet by the fan. The brush rotates in unison with the fan and as it rotates each separate bristle strikes the carpet once each revolution. Since the bristles project down below the plane of the suction mouth and since there will always be a tendency for the air suction to drag the carpet in, each bristle bunch must beat the carpet or floor covering away in order to pass, and since the brush rotates at high speed it will strike a blow on the suspended carpet. This blow will knock the carpet suddenly away, the dirt will be jarred loose and shaken to the surface. It will then be picked up by the air current and carried off.

The cessation of the beating action due to the fact that the bristles do not entirely surround the brush in either case will accentuate the beating feature of the device and that may be desirable under certain conditions. This arrangement however tends more or less to throw the brush out of balance so that it would tend among other things to cause the brush to rattle, to work inevenly and to put uneven wear on the bearings. These and other difficulties are obviated by the counterbalance.

I claim l. A brush for suction cleaners comprising a brush body, a single row of bristles arranged thereon from end to end but forming less than a circle about the body and arranged in such manner that no two sections of such row of bristles are arranged in the same plane perpendicular to the axis of the brush and a counterweight arranged along the body opposite the bristles.

i. A brush for suction cleaners comprising a rotatably mounted brush body and a row of bristles whose extent is less than a :omplete circle arranged about the body from end to endthereof and a counterweight arranged along the body opposite the bristles.

3. A cleaning device for suction cleaners comprising a rotatably mounted brush body and a row of cleaning members arranged along the body from end to end thereof and a counterweight arranged along the body in opposition to such cleaning members.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses this sixth day of May, 1919.

HOWARD EARL HOOVER.

"Witnesses:

MINNIE M. LINDENAU, MARIAN L. INGRAHAM. 

